GUITARMAGEDDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My head is still spinning from the whirlwind trip. Nevertheless, I’ve got a lotta babbling to do, so…. click here for the set list; click here for show only schtuff or just read on...

The promise of seeing some of my favorite-est fans (as well, of course as seeing my favorite-est band) made me decide to make another pilgrimage to Vegas. Don’t tell the LVCVB but I’m not big on Vegas. I’m not a gambler, I get impatient with crowds and the constant drone of those *$&%^ slot machines about drives me crazy...

I hope the band understands the sacrifices I’m willing to make to see them. ;)

The week I had just prior (read: taking care of a sick kiddo and some really un-fun days at work) made me damn glad I’d made the impulsive decision to head west.

My flights were just fine. Crowded, but fine. (Although what did I expect on Southwest on a Friday, heading to Vegas?! :P) My journey got off to an inauspicious start though when my CT key chain caused the TSA lady some concern.

Couldn’t help but think about Rick’s comments on travel hassles (thanks to terrorism) in an outstanding interview that you can find here… Thank you, WFMU!!!

No, I’m not cussing you out with an acronym – those are radio station call letters. ;)

The second leg of my trip (Albuquerque to Vegas) was a fun flight. The flight attendant dudes were sassy and had everyone congratulate a groom on board – although they repeatedly made announcements that he shouldn’t do it.

I was also seated next to a very cute couple from NM. Turns out they’d won an all expenses paid trip to the De La Hoya fight - accommodations at the Mandalay Bay and all! They’d never flown before, so I tried to explain to them that they could have a soda for free. LOL

They made me realize how jaded I am, though. I’m blessed and lucky in so many ways – the travel I’ve been able to do is one of the things for which I’m particularly thankful. Anyway, they were just fascinated with the view, "ooing and ahhing" all the way. Usually, I could care less. "Are we there yet?" LOL

Anyhoo, I got in to Vegas and queued up at the taxi stand. I didn’t know how freakin’ long the line was at first. Damn! WTF?! If I gotta wait in a long, twisty line like that there’d better be a kick ass roller coaster ride at the end of it. ;)

A rude couple who ditched me then proceeded to smoke their asses off (their smoke blew in my face, of course) only served to heighten my surly attitude. :P

The one and only West Coast Dawn showed up not too long after I got there. It was really great to see her again. She’d arrived the night before and was good enough to share her room over at the Luxor with me and Flis for tonight.

"I knew you’d be here!" was the first thing out of her mouth. Doh! Naturally there was no one else there yet. My notorious queuing habits would be a source of amusement for everyone I hung out with that day. Not to mention folks like Jon from IDK and another crew dude who walked by and shook their heads on more than one occasion. LMAO!!!

Side note: I don’t know if it’s really cool or really scary that Jon knows me well enough to ask where my husband and child were….

I should’ve told him, "You’ve heard of "Mom’s Day Out"? Well, this would be Mom’s NIGHT Out!"

During the wait, I watched as they set up in their truly shitty merch location. I’m sorry. There’s no other word for it. It was outside the damn club. WTF?!?!

Stacy from Denver was the next person to show up. Ironically the last time I saw her was in Vegas. The three of us took turns holding our front spots. IMHO we CT fans are very good about that.

After a bit, Tom walked by, on his way in for sound check. Right as he was walking in, I met Andy from Guitar Center who was very busy getting ready for the show that night.

What with all the GUITARMAGEDDON stuff on the docket for that night doors were at 5. (Sorry. I just gotta use all caps for a word like that.)

Anyway, it was getting close to 5 and assuming that there wouldn’t be a formal sound check, Dawn and I went into the HOB to get some food. Much to our chagrin, this meant we missed seeing Rick and Robin on their way inside. DOH!!!

However, I did overhear some of sound check, during which they played "Elo Kiddies" and "It All Comes Back to You" Cool! First time to hear the latter in a long while. After we got our food, we got a call from Pam and Flis – they’d made it in, as had Danny. Woo hoo!

They showed up a little later and Pam proceeded to blow me no end of $hit about getting in line so early. She even took a picture. Bwahahahhahahaha!

Miraculously enough, the doors did open on time. New technology for this concert goer – they scanned our tickets instead of tearing them. Nutty! What will these kids come up with next?

I had a sudden flash of me as a grandma, telling Zach’s kids, "In MY day we didn’t HAVE ticket scanners! Nooooooooooo! We got our tickets TORN. And we LIKED IT!"

If you’ve been inside one HOB you’ve pretty much seen them all. They’re all variations on the same theme: an open floor area, with a balcony that wraps ¾ of the way around. Seating in the balcony was a little different – instead of the usual cabaret style seating, it looked to be theatre type seats on a very steep rake. Hanging above the floor area was a HUGE chandelier. It was pretty and all, but my theatre background had me conjuring images of that freakin’ thing crashing down a la Phantom of the Opera.

Another cool HOB club. The stage is so high at this one (at least 6’) that I was actually a little relieved that there was a barrier. It set us back about 4 or 5 feet from the stage, affording us a very good view. PLUS some thoughtful soul had taped padding onto the rail. Thanks dude!

Speaking of tape, another thoughtful guy from 92 sumpin FM in LV was nice enough to give Stacy and me some tape for our signage when we saw him putting up his.

Now that we were in and in our rightful spots, Dawn and I met two guys from Oregon. Well, l should I say that they met Dawn and had to meet me as a result. I tell ya, Dawn was quite a hit with the fellas (and apparently one lady) that evening. ;)

Anyway, these guys from the Pacific Northwest had never seen CT before - when they saw the marquee they decided to go for it. We assured them that by coming to the show, they’d made the best bet in Vegas. :D

They were nice enough to buy us both some drinks, so it’s with great embarrassment that I say I don’t remember their names. I think it was KC and Brian, but I’m not sure. My bad!!!! I’m an ingrate!!!!

Which brings me to my downfall of the evening. (Aside from CT, that is. LOL) so many nice people bought me drinks that night. What’s a girl to do? Drink them all apparently. DOH!!!!

Now, I’m not saying I was drunk. I prefer the terms "comfortably numb" or "happy." I will say this… "GUITARMAGEDDON" is REALLY hard to say after a couple shots of tequila. LOL! And lord knows I tried. There’s just something really fun about shouting that word at the top of your lungs. Bwahahahhaa…

In that same vein, when Pam walked in with Flis and Danny, I was sure to flash the rock-n-roll horns sign and yell, "Yeah baby! Front f***ing row at GUITARMAGEDDON! Wooooooo!!!" )

Openers Magna-Fi (a damn fine rock quartet from Vegas) were the first folks on stage that night and I really liked them. Of course it really helped that the guitarist had a Miles Nielsen thing goin' on. When he pointed at the barrier and said, "I love your sign. I feel the same way." - it just sealed the deal. LOL The Homer sign also got a nod and a smile out of the lead singer dude.

Oh yeah. They played some good songs too. Good tunes and a fun stage presence. Me likey. I tried to find the table to buy a CD but nazi security dude wouldn’t let me upstairs. Doh!

After their set, GUITARMAGEDDON began in earnest. Seven finalists from regional competitions all over the US were on hand to play for a group of judges in hopes of winning a $7500 spending spree at Guitar Center.

In my more pessimistic mindset, I imagined a parade of Nigel Tufnels playing flashy, unsubstantive solos. Now that would be amusing and all, but NOT for seven rounds. LOL

However, I actually enjoyed hearing their stuff. It was an interesting mix too. You had a blues/jazz inspired contestant. He definitely had a BB King thing going on. Of course there were the "straight up" rock types. A couple contestants showed off their range, playing more than one style.

The youngest was Pam, Flis' and my favorite. I hate to be so shallow, but it’s mostly because he was the cutest. LOL! Pam was really teasing him and another young upstart (who actually won) – more than once my side literally hurt from laughing so hard.

I would like to apologize to the participants for my behavior. Being a performer myself, I always try to be respectful of others when they’re on stage. No offense to y’all. I was just having too much fun goofing with my buds and yelling GUITARMAGEDDON.

I gotta tell ya, the Guitar Center folks are no slouches when it comes to swag. They chucked out tshirts, guitar straps, Spinal Tap DVDs, books (one of which banged Danny in the chin, making him bleed. DOH!! Poor DFS!)

Just before the show, the Guitar Center folks gave away an autographed (by Tom and Rick) Fender Squire. And it just so happens that Dawn was the big winner! As you can imagine, she was thrilled and we were thrilled for her.

Of course the damn thing didn’t come with a case, so she has to ship it home. LOL!

Just when we thought it was show time, some guy came out with the blonde bimbo (who’d been the "card girl" for the competition) and went through this long as hell demo of some adapter thingy that apparently simulates various guitar sounds.

I’m sorry, I have no idea what it was called. I wasn’t listening closely. By that time I didn't give a crap. This bloody demo was like the freakin' Energizer Bunny.... The damn thing just kept going and going and going.

He played and played and played and talked and talked and talked while the bimbo danced and danced and danced and pretended to look interested.

BEC	jeans, black t shirt and a black bball cap that had writing on it, but I’ll be damned if I could read it
RN	the shiny red suit and a plain (?!) black t shirt
RZ	very nice black suit with white stitching, white dress shirt, black tie (I mouthed "nice suit" to him again. LOL) The jacket and tie came off a few songs in and he added a gray bowler hat
TP	long black velvet jacket that looks red at times, pink shirt, black pants and boots

Hello There
Big Eyes
IYWML	As usual, we were encouraged to sing along and we all swayed back and forth.
Wrong All Along
IKWIW	There was a cool bit of jamming done right before they launched in to this. Really fun stuff!!!
IWYTWM
Best Friend	Interesting intro on this listen (to what has to be considered the hands down favorite of the new ones from all recent show reports). Rick sang his back up "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" vocal before they launched into it. What a song! Can’t wait to slap down my money for the studio version of that puppy.
Never Had A Lot to Lose	Robin was quite the animated one during this. See the misc. section below for my blathering about this one
Words	Rick came downstage at one point during this and asked how my mom was doing. Awwwww…
Downed
Tonight It's You	During the intro, Rick did this very cute, robot dance move thing that had all of us in front laughing our respective butts off.
Heaven Tonight	I’m so glad this one’s been back in the set list. Wait? Have I said that before? Too bad. LOL At one point, Rick and Tom did a menacing walk downstage towards us.
Ain't That a Shame
Surrender	The flat didn’t quite make it to the balcony – it looked like a feeding frenzy in a shark tank when it landed on the floor towards the back.
Scent of a Woman	Have I told you lately that I love this song?
Goodnight	I stood there shell shocked during this. I couldn’t believe it. No "Dream Police"?!?! WTF? LOL! In fact, I yelled at Rick. He heard me (or read my lips or sumpin) and made a "fly away" gesture.

Rick of course welcomed us all to Vegas and made the usual announcements. How very nice to hear him say that the new album will be out on July 8. This was one of the first shows after the BIG3 deal was announced – you could see BEC grinning when Rick talked about the new album.

While we’re on the subject: congrats again for getting the kind of deal you deserve, CT.

He thanked Guitar Center for having them and for being so good to them over the years. The big winner was announced before the encores. Rick had to give him a hard time, of course. "I didn’t vote for him."

After BEC came forward to say something (that none of us understood BTW) Rick commented, "That’s only the second time he’s spoken in 30 years."

After the mini Yardbirds jam, Rick made a snide comment about not being included on the new Yardbirds album. Perhaps this was on his mind because Bun E. wrote a review of said album?!?!

This is the same basic set list that’s been played at recent shows. Word on the street was that GUITARMADDEGON had run long, so they had to cut it short because two of the guys had to catch a flight. Wahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

I didn’t think about it until just now, but it’s because of that (*%$^%^ demo that CT ended up cutting the set list short.

Oh well. No matter. As much as we were all hoping for a longer set – the show was lots of fun and IMHO we were a very good crowd. I was pleasantly surprised that there was no shoving (at least in our neck of the woods) or rude GA type behavior.

While I'm thinking about it, I'd like to add that it was nice to see a CT show in Vegas when I didn't have to dry off my feet afterwards. :D

Some guy with the venue had a video camera on a stick and used it to swoop in on the guys for some close ups. LOL Of course Rick messed with him….

I forget when but we were treated to a cool impromptu jam of the Yardbird’s "The Shape of Things to Come" – one of the songs in the Yardbirds Medley on one of Bun E’s Basement Bootlegs… I love it!!!

Speaking of BEC, there was some kind of issue with his kit that had to be taken care of mid-show. There was a "Bun E!" chant going on and Robin politely shushed us so they could sort it out.

Even without the DP pick barrage, this was a good pick catching show for me. :D I couldn’t tell if the security dude was amused or disgusted with me, though. I asked him for one on the ground early on and he gave it to me with a roll of his eyes.

after watching me search in vein for one Rick threw at me then showing me that is was sitting right there on the barrier *rolls eyes* LOL!